Medical tubing is used to house surgical medical devices during shipping and handling. Such medical tubing may be referred to as a protective dispenser tubing. Examples of medical devices distributed in protective dispenser tubing include guide wires and catheters for cardiovascular surgical interventions. The dispenser tubing is desirably coiled to allow for efficient packaging and handling. The dispenser tubing is generally packaged so as to maintain sterility of the medical devices situated within the tubing as well as prevent any damage or marring to sensitive instrumentation, such as delivery devices for cardiovascular surgery, e.g., stents, balloons, etc. Prior to shipment, such dispenser tubing is loaded with the medical devices in a sterile environment. During a surgical procedure, the medical devices are withdrawn from the dispenser tubing just prior to insertion into a patient's vascular system by medical personnel.
Protective dispenser tubing is generally formed by extruding an organic resin, such as polyethylene, polyolefin, polypropylene, etc, through a die. The temperature and/or pressure applied to the material is controlled to achieve a desired viscosity to allow for the material to be extruded through the die while achieving results that satisfy desired tolerances. Once the material is extruded through the die to take a tubular shape, the resulting tubing is allowed to cool and cut to desired lengths.
The dispenser tubing is desirably formed from a material exhibiting sufficient resistance to crushing forces to substantially maintain the dimensions of an internal passageway of the tubing under ordinary external forces encountered during shipping and handling. The tubing also desirably exhibits sufficient flexibility to allow the tubing to be coiled and thereby allow for more compact and efficient packaging of the medical devices housed within. Systems and devices for retaining dispenser tubing in a coiled configuration during shipping and handling operations is described, for example, by U.S. Pat. No. 6,405,414, the contents of which are incorporated entirely herein by reference.
Some applications of guide wires, stents, and other vascular medical devices housed within dispenser tubing, to provide cardiovascular interventions during a surgical procedure are described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,464,683, the contents of which are incorporated entirely herein by reference. In some applications, the medical device is introduced into the patient's vascular system by an introducing catheter “introducer” incorporating a cannula to puncture the patient's skin, at which point the guide wire, catheter, or other medical device can be directed, e.g., pushed, to the desired treatment region within the patient's vascular system. An example of a guide wire introducer is described U.S. Pat. No. 5,282,479, the contents of which are incorporated entirely herein by reference.